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The Bacon Brothers perform at the Rocks Lounge this weekend.
Monday, July 29, 2019 | 2 a.m.
The Bacon Brothers are bringing their genre-defying yet easily approachable brand of rock and roll back to Las Vegas weekend, taking the stage at the Red Rock Resort’s Rocks Lounge Saturday night.
Similar to Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters, a band that will play the same venue later this month, this outfit has a long history and solid catalog that defies the categorization of celebrity side-gig. Movie star Kevin and composer Michael have recorded eight albums including last year’s eponymous collection and they have enough fresh material right now, including new single “Play,” to put together a ninth.
“We haven’t worked them up live and that’s what we’re doing now,” says Michael, who focuses on film scores when he’s not touring with little bro and the band or teaching and lecturing. “There are a lot of unknowns but it’s an exciting place to be because we’re really happy with the writing. We live and die on the writing.”
Here’s the rest of my conversation with Michael and Kevin Bacon:
It’s been a few years since you’ve played in Las Vegas. Do you have any favorite venues here?
Michael Bacon: It’s always such a great experience there. The food is so good in Las Vegas and all the venues we’ve played have been excellent.
That’s the one thing every touring entertainer seems to be excited about when coming to Vegas — the food.
Kevin Bacon: Food is the way to a band’s heart.
How has the touring experience changed for you guys over the years?
Michael: I think the band has gotten so much bigger and stronger. We started with four and now it’s a six-piece. For me, it’s a dream setup because all the guys are so versatile. They can go anywhere the songs my brother and I write need to be taken.
Your new song “Play” is really catchy and upbeat, and there’s a horn section that just sticks in your head. Do you feel like this is a different musical direction?
Kevin: I don’t know if we ever really have a musical direction. It’s always just writing the songs, seeing how they come out, doing a demo and bringing it to the band and letting the vibe really determine that direction. “Play” is probably the first of six or seven new songs we have and they’re all over the map. “Play” is kind of funky and that’s the way I envisioned it, with that kind of guitar sound. The horns were Mike’s idea. I think maybe we’re trying to lean a little more into the idea of simplicity in the telling of a story and the chord structure of a song.
With that many new songs, could we see another album soon?
Michael: We don’t really know what the music business is like now. We have new management and their attitude is, “You guys make the music and get out on the road.” We’ve been playing out for five weeks. We’ve got another song that’s a really good, sort of lazy summer song, so if we can get in the studio somehow and get that out there, that would be single number two.
Is writing something that comes naturally to you? Are you writing songs all the time or is it something you need to schedule considering you’re both so busy?
Kevin: I wish it did come naturally. I find it very elusive. Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not, and if you knew drinking a cappuccino every day would make a song come out, then you’d have a cappuccino every day. I can’t really figure out when or why a song comes or where it comes from but I do know every time I finish I song, I think that’s the last song I’m ever going to write. But we continue to write because then you want to play them out and figure out arrangements and record them. That’s what keeps it going.
Michael, how does your creative process change when you’re writing songs for the band versus working on a film score?
Michael: It couldn’t be more different. We were raised in a household in Philadelphia where music and the arts and dance and theater were everything our parents cared about. They gave us a really rich background when we were very young. In my work as a film composer, I feel like my parents gave me a 50-gallon reservoir to start with and it’s gotten much bigger, so now it’s like 10,000 gallons. The other part, writing songs, can be so difficult, as Kevin said. It’s like there’s no reservoir, you have to go grab it out of thin air. When we’re sort of in bloom, it’s a great feeling, but it can go away at any moment. But it also never seems to be gone for any extended amount of time.
What individual projects are you working on right now?
Kevin: I have a show on the air now, “City on the Hill,” which is on Showtime Sunday nights. I’m working on a comedy podcast which right now is called “I Want to be Kevin Bacon,” a fictionalized, scripted half-hour comedy podcast we are setting up at Spotify. And I have a film called “You Should Have Left” coming out sometime next year.
Michael: I scored a narrative film “Master Maggie” that started at Tribeca and is making the festival circuit. We’re trying to get it into the Oscars. I don’t get to do as much narrative stuff as I’d like to. My specialty really has been long-form documentary stuff, so I really enjoyed working on this and hopefully it keeps making its way.
The Bacon Brothers perform at 8 p.m. August 3 at the Rocks Lounge at Red Rock Resort (11011 W. Charleston Blvd., 702-797-7777) and more information can be found at stationcasinoslive.com.
